Digital Cinema version had Padme holding Anakin’s prosthetic hand at the end. 35mm did not. I’m relatively sure that was the only difference between those two versions. I’m still kicking myself for not going to see the digital version when it was playing at the National Amusements / Multiplex theater in Merrifield, which was also the closest theater to where I lived in Falls Church (it was the only theater in all of Virginia showing it that way per starwars.com, and one of only a hundred in the whole country). I saw AotC on 35mm opening day in downtown DC intending to see it again in digital, but the Merrifield theater had swapped it out for Scooby-Doo before I was able to.

I’m 99% sure that the scene extension of Anakin’s confession to Padme about the Tusken slaughter wasn’t added until the dvd, not the dcp. I know dvdactive’s comparison said otherwise but I’m almost positive they’re wrong. I was actually just starting to post on message boards that summer (TFN, which I thankfully abandoned not long after finding this wonderful place), and I don’t recall anyone mentioning anything except the hand-holding in the final scene.

As noted, the IMAX version was cut down because the 15/70 projector reel platters couldn’t hold more than 120 minutes of film at the time. I never saw this version (it came out within only a few days of the dvd IIRC, which I never thought was a very good business decision but whatever). Some people who saw it said the edits actually improved the pacing of the movie.

The only major difference on the blu-ray I remember hearing about is the re-editing of the Yoda/Dooku fight, specifically when Dooku force-…collapses(?) that structure next to Anakin and Obi-Wan so he can make his escape. Youtube was a thing that existed by 2011 and I remember someone posted a simple camera recording of their tv for this scene. Other than this change, I’m assuming it’s identical to the dvd version in terms of content. The movie was given a new color grade that makes it look significantly different from the dvd, unlike RotS.

Hard to say. The only reported change, at the time, was the hand at the end. Not clear if Padme’s ‘to be angry’ stuff is present or not. We don’t know about the deleted speeder either, of course, because no one would have noticed a silly change like that.

The “are you okay? yes” awkward line was mocked quite a bit at the time. I think it would have been noticed or mentioned somewhere if there was a version without it. It was adjusted for the DVD.

Fang Zei, you’re right about the blu-ray. They changed the shot order in that scene. But also at the end of the chase, early in the film, when they go through the power couplings. I believe they also added Anakin’s mom’s voice into his nightmare, or something like that.

Hard to say. The only reported change, at the time, was the hand at the end. Not clear if Padme’s ‘to be angry’ stuff is present or not. We don’t know about the deleted speeder either, of course, because no one would have noticed a silly change like that.

The “are you okay? yes” awkward line was mocked quite a bit at the time. I think it would have been noticed or mentioned somewhere if there was a version without it. It was adjusted for the DVD.

Fang Zei, you’re right about the blu-ray. They changed the shot order in that scene. But also at the end of the chase, early in the film, when they go through the power couplings. I believe they also added Anakin’s mom’s voice into his nightmare, or something like that.

Plus they changed the order of the shots when Dooku escapes.
Also, when were the extra speeders removed in the scene where OB1 catches the lightsaber? Was it a DCP change or a DVD change?

Hard to say. The only reported change, at the time, was the hand at the end. Not clear if Padme’s ‘to be angry’ stuff is present or not. We don’t know about the deleted speeder either, of course, because no one would have noticed a silly change like that.

The “are you okay? yes” awkward line was mocked quite a bit at the time. I think it would have been noticed or mentioned somewhere if there was a version without it. It was adjusted for the DVD.

Fang Zei, you’re right about the blu-ray. They changed the shot order in that scene. But also at the end of the chase, early in the film, when they go through the power couplings. I believe they also added Anakin’s mom’s voice into his nightmare, or something like that.

Also, when were the extra speeders removed in the scene where OB1 catches the lightsaber? Was it a DCP change or a DVD change?

Right, that’s the one that is really impossible to know. Only through obsessive comparing to a cam recording did anyone even spot this little change. So, no one in the theater would have ever noticed a difference. Rick McCallum stated that there are many visual changes in the DCP version. Of course, McCallum was a well trained liar, so who knows? However, it is possible that it, as a purely visual change that does not impact the locked off run time, was changed for the DCP just like the hand. They may have thought too many speeders makes the lightsaber trickier to see or something strange like that.

It’s possible that these strictly visual changes existed between the film and DCP, while the audio changes and scene extension didn’t happen until DVD.

I would have also considered it possible that the DVD and DCP are identical. Unlike TPM, the DVD came out really soon after theatrical release. But if people at the time spotted the hand difference, I think they would have noticed the “to be human” change, which was relatively large. And as I said before, the “are you okay” response, simply because it was derided so much.

I also remember thinking it was weird that McCallum said “we were still filming last week” in reference to the dcp version the day the movie opened when the different hand shot appeared to be the same location. Unless that was somewhere in California and not Lake Cuomo in Italy and they literally got Natalie and Hayden the week before, just for that one shot.

The only way we could truly know for sure would be if a group of devoted fans make the trip to the Lucasfilm archives at skywalker ranch and were to smuggle every print of the films lol while they’re there they should also grab the original theatrical versions of all the films which George obviously has hidden somewhere that would also include the fully restored 4K print of the holiday special that George watches every year with his family

Y’know, we’re always talking about how the unaltered OT is the only thing they have left to sell us so far as those movies are concerned.

I’d pay good money for an “all versions” collector’s edition of AotC. The 35mm, dcp and final/most-recent version could all be branched onto the same disc. They could put the imax cut on a second disc just like one of the dvd releases of Apollo 13.

I’ve accepted that the theatrical prequels will probably never be officially released on modern formats and will likely become a historical curiosity. That’s what places like this are for.

But it would be nice if the Star Wars movies I grew up with (for better or for worse) were preserved in their original form for future generations. The OUT/OOT is what really matters, though. Obviously there isn’t nearly as much demand for the PUT/OPT.

The Orriganal is The VHS version.
The DVD is the Same As the VHS Version.
IMAX version was changed as the IMAX theaters at the time were only experimental. The film was cut down signiffigantly. “20 minutes where lost, in getting this transfer for IMAX.”

The Blu Ray nearly gave me a heart attack when i saw The Scenes where rearranged.
“Anakin how many times do i have to tell you!”(Gets electricuted)
We see the speeder from a farther view leaving the Power Cuplinks.
"Stay Away From POWER CUPLINKS!"
Then we see the spedder from near the front coming close to the camera.

The Bluray
"Anakin, How many times do i gave to tell you!"
"Stay Away From POWER CUPLINKS!"
followed by both angle shots of the Speeder

The Orriganal is The VHS version.
The DVD is the Same As the VHS Version.
IMAX version was changed as the IMAX theaters at the time were only experimental. The film was cut down signiffigantly. “20 minutes where lost, in getting this transfer for IMAX.”

The Blu Ray nearly gave me a heart attack when i saw The Scenes where rearranged.
“Anakin how many times do i have to tell you!”(Gets electricuted)
We see the speeder from a farther view leaving the Power Cuplinks.
"Stay Away From POWER CUPLINKS!"
Then we see the spedder from near the front coming close to the camera.

The Bluray
"Anakin, How many times do i gave to tell you!" (gets electricuted)
"Stay Away From POWER CUPLINKS!"
followed by both angle shots of the Speeder

No. Unless there were multiple VHS versions. I remember my pan & scan VHS ending with the final wedding shot being changed to 16:9 letterbox. I’m not sure if the hand touching scene and the speeder chase were re-done for the VHS or for the DVD, my VCR doesn’t work for something like a decade and for “some reason” all VCR repair shops went out of business.

The DVD is the Same As the VHS Version.

I’m not sure if the hand touching scene and the speeder chase were re-done for the VHS or for the DVD

No. Unless there were multiple VHS versions. I remember my pan & scan VHS ending with the final wedding shot being changed to 16:9 letterbox. I’m not sure if the hand touching scene and the speeder chase were re-done for the VHS or for the DVD, my VCR doesn’t work for something like a decade and for “some reason” all VCR repair shops went out of business.

The DVD is the Same As the VHS Version.

I’m not sure if the hand touching scene and the speeder chase were re-done for the VHS or for the DVD

The digital cinema version that played in a hundred or so theaters in the U.S. had Anakin and Padme holding hands at the end whereas the 35mm version simply had Anakin’s metal hand hanging there in that shot.

The Imax version released later that year in November is about twenty minutes shorter since this was still the very earliest days of full-length Hollywood movies being released in 15/70 and the projector platters could only hold 120 minutes worth of film.

Apollo 13 was the first to get the Imax DMR treatment earlier that year and was also shortened. AotC was the second IIRC.

The platter problem was rectified soon after since the Matrix sequels released the very next year were not shortened for Imax.

The current limit is apparently 167 minutes, so there’s a reason the theatrical versions of Watchmen, Avatar, and the only version of Dark Knight Rises all happen to fit just within that running time. Interstellar just barely fit and apparently used a slide-show version of the end credits to shave off three minutes without removing anything from the actual movie.

Anyway, this brings us finally to the dvd/vhs version which was released within only a week or so of the Imax version (which never made any sense to me from a business perspective but then again this is the same Lucasfilm that decided to release TPM 3D in theaters several months after the blu-ray).

The main change made for the dvd/vhs (yes, they’re identical outside of obvious differences like framing) was the extended scene of Anakin’s confession to Padme about the Tusken slaughter. In the theatrical versions, it wipes to the next scene before Padme’s “to be flawed is to be human” (or whatever she says) and Anakin’s “I’m a Jedi, I know I’m better than this.” Btw, the audio of Anakin saying “I’m a Jedi” was used in that web-exclusive teaser-teaser trailer in October/November of ‘01, so it was a nice surprise when it showed up in the movie a year later.

No. Unless there were multiple VHS versions. I remember my pan & scan VHS ending with the final wedding shot being changed to 16:9 letterbox. I’m not sure if the hand touching scene and the speeder chase were re-done for the VHS or for the DVD, my VCR doesn’t work for something like a decade and for “some reason” all VCR repair shops went out of business.

The DVD is the Same As the VHS Version.

I’m not sure if the hand touching scene and the speeder chase were re-done for the VHS or for the DVD

The VHS version was not altered a bit from the theatrical release

Nope. My VHS tape was pretty different from the cam bootleg I have, I listed the differences above